Incomprehensible to Americans

[cleglaw]

A British patient of mine, a retired University professor, told me she had a joke which all Americans fail to understand. I asked her to tell it, thinking I might get it, but it was totally incomprehensible to me until she explained it. Here is the joke.

A group of Americans were on a tour in Durham. The tour guide said, "now we are going to see the tomb of the venerable Bede".
One of the Americans said, "That's funny. I always thought Adam Bede was a woman."


If any of you have some typical British jokes (funny ones only) you could share, I'd like to tell them to her.

[Flix]

Don't get it at all.

I know who the venerable Bede was though.

[Dark Phoenix Rising]

it's probably a play on words - bede - specifically.

it could also be a play on calling americans stupid (adam traditionally being a male name)

[Flix]

Well, I'm pretty sure it's designed to portray Americans as stupid.

But I don't see any play on words. Adam Bede was a man in the George Eliot novel of the same name. (Although George Eliot was just the penname of Mary Ann Evans). Why an American would confuse this character with an Old English bishop and historian is beyond me. It seems like a stupid American wouldn't know about either figure.

I've tried pronouncing Venerable Bede and Adam Bede out loud several times and I don't hear any pun from the sound of the names --it just left me feeling pretty stupid.

Cleglaw or a British boardie please come explain!

[Hand-E-Food]

I have to say, I'm completely lost too...

[cleglaw]

Well, I am relieved that I was not the only one who did not not understand the joke. The lady who told it to me explained it as follows.

The venerable Bede's name was confused by the American with Adam Bede, the George Eliot novel. In turn, the character who gives his name to the novel was confused with the author. The author of course was a woman using a male pseudonym; hence the last line of the joke: "I always thought Adam Bede was a woman."

Yes. It is a relief that others also do not find it funny, though I wonder if the Brits here think it is somehow hilarious. Perhaps it is a joke only meant for British University professors.

[Ubereil]

A tiny bit too far fetched...

Übereil

[Elliot Kane]

I very much doubt that a lot of British people would get it, either. Especially those below 50 or so. Not only is George Elliot a pretty obscure authoress in England these days, but the number of people who would know she was a woman, let alone follow that whole train of thought is very small indeed.

If most Brits laugh, it would be at the 'Americans are bad with names' trope and nothing more.

[ss]

Jan 30, 2009 1:09:46 GMT Flix said:

Well, I'm pretty sure it's designed to portray Americans as stupid.

But I don't see any play on words. Adam Bede was a man in the George Eliot novel of the same name. (Although George Eliot was just the penname of Mary Ann Evans). Why an American would confuse this character with an Old English bishop and historian is beyond me. It seems like a stupid American wouldn't know about either figure.

I've tried pronouncing Venerable Bede and Adam Bede out loud several times and I don't hear any pun from the sound of the names --it just left me feeling pretty stupid.

Cleglaw or a British boardie please come explain!

I think maybe Clegs patient was refering to the "other" Venerable Bede.

Greatest Church Historian of his day, -- (673 - 735)

"Within the walls of the imposing Norman Cathedral of Durham lies the simple tomb of a Christian monk who has earned the title as "Father of English History."

good link.. www.britannia.com/bios/bede.html

Bede's Tomb in Durham
Bede was first buried at the monastery of St. Paul at Jarrow in 735. However, in about 1022, his bones were brought to Durham where they were placed with those of St. Cuthbert in the Choir. In 1370, Bede's remains were moved to a splendid shrine in the Galilee Chapel. This shrine was destroyed during the Reformation in 1540 and Bede's bones were then buried in a grave where the shrine had stood.

Eventually, in 1831, the present tomb, made from polished Carboniferous limestone, was erected over Bede's grave. It has the following simple inscription cut into its surface:

HAC SUNT IN FOSSA BEDAE VENERABILIS OSSA
Translated from the Latin, this means 'In this tomb are the bones of the Venerable Bede'. A sculptured quotation from one of Bede's prayers hangs on the east wall above his tomb. It was designed by George Pace and placed there in 1970 as a memorial to Dean Alington (1933-1951). It says in Latin and then in English:

"Christ is the morning star
Who when the night
Of this world is past
Brings to his saints
The promise of
The light of life
& opens everlasting day."

Maybe this sheds some light on it...

He is most famously known by any and all biblical scholars...

edit...course I'm not a Brit... ;D

[Flix]

Yeah. That's who I was referring to when I said "an Old English bishop and historian." The mystery was connecting that Bede to Adam Bede, and explaining why an American would think either was a woman.

He is most famously known by any and all biblical scholars..

And anyone studying Old English language/literature, like me.

[ss]

True Flix, but thought I would add the rest for the benefit of the rest that may not know of him...

Amazing man for his day...what...??

[Elliot Kane]

And anyone who knows a bit about English history, for that matter... So a LOT of people, really ;D